Dominican Order

The Dominican Order is a mendicant Catholic religious order founded by the Spanish priest Dominic of Caleruega in France on 22 December 1216. The order was founded to preach the Gospel and to oppose heresy, and its teaching activity and scholastic organization placed Dominican preachers in the forefront of the intellecutal life of the Middle Ages. The order produced many philosophers and theologians; in 2013, there were 6,058 Dominican friars, including 4,470 priests. The Dominicans wore black coats over their white habits, and they became known as the Blackfriars in England; in France, and they were known as the Jacobins for their residence at the Church of Saint-Jacques in Paris.